SunStar’s Bzzzz: Gawad Junquera

 

Reporter, reacting to our previous post about SunStar’s Bzzz section (Tips & Tricks Dep’t.:  SunStar’s Bzzzzz), brings out an intriguing point:

The Buzzz is an indicator of the kind of standard Cheking has for himself. During the past election campaign, Buzzz was in an adversarial mode when it talks about Capitol issues but an advocate when it mentions City Hall or a daughter of a former congressman.

Valid point.  You’re already editor-in-chief, after all, with absolute control over what comes out in tomorrow’s paper.  You write a twice-weekly column, where you can write about anything under the sun.  You also run a daily tabloid in Cebuano by remote control.  You control what comes out on your online network.

What is the overpowering urge to write a gossip column fit only for trashy showbiz tabloids?  To scratch an itch of some baser instinct?  Is that why he uses Bzzzz to obsess about a certain Fiscal Gwapa and her alleged sexual exploits involving men in power?  Is that why he giggles like a teenage virgin about gossip romantically linking public personalities to each other?

It must be some Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing going on in some dark corner of the SunStar editorial offices.

Reporters, in fact, have stopped submitting tips for the Bzzzzz section (they used to get token prizes of a few pesos for tips) because Cheking — transmogrifying into Mr. Hyde — twists and mangles the stories such that they don’t come out the same.  And they run into trouble with their sources.

Why? Because Cheking Seares, Gawad Plaridel awardee for his contributions to journalism, doesn’t want to lend his name (and hence uses blind items, and doesn’t put his byline) to the trash that he spews out in this gossip column.  God forbid the Gawad Plaridel awardee soil his hands with his own sh**.

With the Bzzzzz section, the Gawad Plaridel forgets Plaridel and meanders down a nearby back alley.  He should get the Gawad Junquera.

Except that our friendly neighborhood ladies of the night — who at least do not have pretensions to uprightness and moral rectitude — might object.

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Tips & Tricks Dep’t.: SunStar’s Bzzzzz

Q.:  How do you discover the identities of the subjects of Cheking Seares’ blind items on SunStar’s Bzzzz?

A.:  Read Bobby Nalzaro’s and Eddie Barrita’s columns.

Very often, the blind items on SunStar’s Bzzzzz (written by no less than the former editor-in-chief, Cheking Seares) are the very same topics of columns by Bobby Nalzaro and Eddie Barrita (sometimes appearing in the same SunStar issue).

So it’s like a Sudoku puzzle, where you get the answers on a different page.

Which makes you wonder why Cheking Seares feels the need to write them as blind items when his superfriend, SuperBob, and his Robin, Eddie, are going to name names, anyway.  And sometimes offer juicier details.

So, sometimes, we really wonder whether SunStar shouldn’t just drop the “B” from Bzzzzz. . .

Another thing Cheking should drop – hiding behind “coffee shop kibitzer” and “coffee shop habitue” in a coffee shop “where they drink beer” as his supposed sources.  With the two columnists mentioned above practically finishing his sentences, we now know what’s the buzz.

We even know where that coffee shop where they get their beer buzz is.

Columny

Time for some gentle ribbing of your favorite columnists.

And Onion-skinned wouldn’t write about them if we weren’t confident that they had the sense of humor.

So here goes:

1.  It is not true that Frank Malilong is a conservative.  In fact, if you read his columns, you’ll see that his views are quite Liberal.

2.  Bobit Avila is complaining about the quality of computer keyboards these days.  It’s the fourth time this year that his exclamation point key has conked out.

3.  Melanie T. Lim’s column should be moved to Wednesdays.  We already get preached to on Sundays.

4.  At a restaurant, Johnny Mercado, when asked what his order was said:  “Well, as Voltaire said, ‘Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.’

“But tonight, I’ll have a light one.  I’ll try, anyway.  For as Channing Pollock said, ‘No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after eating one peanut.’

“‘Al hombre le conquista por el estomago‘, as the Spanish say.  ‘The belly rules the mind.’

“Not that I’m not craving for steak.  ‘My favorite animal is steak’.  That’s Fran Lebowitz.”

“And make no mistake about it.  ‘Red meat is not bad for you,’ Tommy Smothers said, ‘Now blue-green meat, that’s bad for you!’

“So, waiter, I’ve decided on steak.  Skip the sauce.  ‘Hunger,’ after all, Miguel de Cervantes once wrote, ‘is the best sauce…’

5.  Bobby Nalzaro can write a column in 10 minutes.  No, that’s not a joke.  That’s what he told me.

6.  There’s an urban legend that originally, Juanito Jabat wanted to name his column “One Knee to Have, But…”  But they decided against it because the others wanted their own:  “Pat Cheek, Oh!”, “Bow Bit a Veal, Ah…”, “Hi, Me!  Pick or Kneel”.  They finally put their foot down on Chinggay Utzurrum.

7.  Erma Cuizon’s Sunday essay is aptly titled “Bird by Bird”.  You’ve never read ideas, concepts and words so fearful of being caught.

8.  Some readers wonder why Cheking Seares’ columns are so short, and limit themselves to a few ideas at a time.  That’s because he leaves some of his ideas for Eddie Barrita.

9.  And Eddie Barrita’s column “Short Bites” reads like leftovers.

10.  Some brides-to-be are secretly consulting Bong Wenceslao’s wife on how to get their fiances to agree to a long honeymoon.  They figure that if he’s still writing about P-Noy in that light until now…

 

 

 

 

Caught in one man’s web of lies

It is not with ease, and certainly not lightly, that Onion-skinned points to signs of a cover-up in the Cebu Citizens Press Council (CCPC) release and re-release of that controversial video documentary on media corruption.

It is difficult because, although Cheking Seares is the author of that video, the CCPC is bigger than Cheking Seares (and slightly bigger than Cheking Seares thinks of himself).

It involves other people, both in and outside media, who have been caught needlessly in this controversy because of the shady politics and overpowering ambitions of one man.

And it has been especially difficult for Onion-skinned because the one person in CCPC with whom we have communicated regarding the video, and (edited) copies thereof, and who therefore betrayed, unwittingly, the tell-tale signs of the subsequent cover-up, is a person known for integrity, and whom Onion-skinned holds in the highest esteem.

But such, perhaps, is Cheking Seares’ power over CCPC — and much of the media — that otherwise decent and honest individuals forget their bearings and unthinkingly set sail for the murky waters of his ambition.

They are even willing to lie to for him.

Lie?  The text message we spoke of in the previous post, in which CCPC fudged and hedged and spinned on whether Capitol’s and Onion-skinned’s copy of the video was the same or “essentially” the same, was only half the story.

Four days before that text message, Onion-skinned had asked CCPC whether the copies it delivered to the Capitol and Onion-skinned were the same as that which was shown during Press Freedom Week.  And this was the reply:

“Yes, same.  We just added subtitles for the inaudible parts (like Tomas O’s interview) and English translations for the Cebuano words spoken by interviewees.”

Subtitles and English translations.  Innocent enough, Onion-skinned thought, so we let that go.

It was only when Onion-skinned heard reporters’ complaints about the video having been substantially altered that we asked CCPC again.  And — wonder of wonders — CCPC changed its tune.  Pardon us for re-posting this text message, but Onion-skinned feels a comparison is necessary:

“Hi, Sir.  It is essentially the same video.  The Capitol lunch still appears 3x in the docu as it did during Press Week.  The only difference is that in the copy sent to you and Capitol, the first time the lunch footage appears has been shortened by a few seconds.  We decided on this after that 4 p.m. mtg in Sun.Star last week when Capitol reporters told us their sentiments that they felt singled out in the docu.  This shortened version was the one shown to the cfbj leaders at their mtg in Baseline last week, during which they made their resolution.  They did not complain about or give us feedback on the cut.  This is the same version that will be viewed by the CCPC en banc when they meet to discuss the issues raised on the docu.”

So there are now not just two versions of the video, but two versions from CCPC on what was changed.  (We are saving both text messages for future reference.)

Innocent people caught in one man’s web of lies.  And we thought this spider had retired.

So they admit they doctored the video

A few days ago, Onion-skinned got this comment from kinsay kurap, about the copy of the video documentary on media corruption which the Cebu Citizens Press Council provided the Capitol and Onion-skinned:

“Overheard from a Sun.Star reporter during the showing of the controversial video at the Capitol last week: “Di man na mao ang gisalida sa Press Freedom Week.”
Capitol beat reporters who saw the earlier version swore the video sent to the Capitol was sanitized “clinically” again.
So much for having “nothing to hide.”
Oh well, gipagwapa lang by the video spin doctor who is now like Vicky Belo or Dr. Calayan. More like Calayan because Belo is truly female, another coffee shop kibitzer said.”

Onion-skinned didn’t comment on this comment immediately because we wanted to make sure. Onion-skinned made a few inquiries and it turned out kinsay kurap’s info about the possibly “doctored” copy was accurate.  Reporters who saw the initial screening confirmed that the video had been changed.

Bothered, Onion-skinned sought the confirmation of CCPC.  Onion-skinned asked whether the copies given Capitol and Onion-skinned were the same as the video originally shown during Press Freedom Week.  And this is the reply of CCPC, thru SMS:

“Hi, Sir.  It is essentially the same video.  The Capitol lunch still appears 3x in the docu as it did during Press Week.  The only difference is that in the copy sent to you and Capitol, the first time the lunch footage appears has been shortened by a few seconds.  We decided on this after that 4 p.m. mtg in Sun.Star last week when Capitol reporters told us their sentiments that they felt singled out in the docu.  This shortened version was the one shown to the cfbj leaders at their mtg in Baseline last week, during which they made their resolution.  They did not complain about or give us feedback on the cut.  This is the same version that will be viewed by the CCPC en banc when they meet to discuss the issues raised on the docu.”

So there you go.  An admission.  The copy given the Capitol and Onion-skinned — and the one shown to the Cebu Federation of Beat Journalists (CFBJ) had been edited.  And the parts cut had everything to do about what was the foremost issue raised against that video, in the first place:  Capitol lunches during press conferences, and whether these constituted “corruption”.

Which precisely defeated the purpose of Capitol’s and Onion-skinned’s request for a copy, the point having been to see whether the video, as shown to the audience, unfairly put the Capitol and Capitol beat reporters in a bad light.  How can that review be conducted, when it is not the same video?

And it is not a defense for CCPC to say that it is “essentially” the same video.  Come on, that’s like saying SunStar and CDN are “essentially” the same — they are both tabloid-sized newspapers circulated in Cebu daily.  It is disingenuous.  It is fudging the truth.  It’s like a spin from spin doctors journalists and editors love to hate.

Onion-skinned hopes the CCPC will come clean on this video and its various editions.  Because it’s looking like a cover-up job.  Cleaning up the blood.  Tampering with the evidence.

Essentially, that is.

CFBJ – no; Shalani – yes

The Cebu Federation of Beat Journalists (CFBJ) is set today to issue its resolution, which Onion-skinned blogged about here (“The backfire continues…”), condemning the video documentary on media corruption produced by the Cebu Citizens Press Council (CCPC).

Onion-skinned hopes to get a copy of the resolution, and permission to publish it here.

In the meantime, what is Cheking Seares, the brains, hand, spirit, scriptwriter, director behind the hypocritical video doing?

Contemplating the geomatic implications of 10-10-10 and the national security implications of the reported breakup between President Aquino and that Shalani girl.

I guess CFBJ will just have to live with the fact that Seares is preoccupied with more important things.

 

 

“Whatever happened to…”

Onion-skinned remembers that SunStar used to have a section called “Whatever happened to…”.  The section followed up on cases, issues, projects that made the news long ago, the present status of which the public might be interested to know.

Onion-skinned has been, for more than four years now, running a “Whatever happened to…” of sorts here, regarding a complaint filed by the Capitol against a SunStar reporter, Karlon N. Rama, or KNR, for fraud in securing documents from a Capitol department, and conflict of interest in pursuing the story.

You can read about that here.  And here.

A few weeks ago, Onion-skinned made another follow up.  But it seems we’re being given the runaround.  Almost five years running.

So whatever happened to that?  Almost all SunStar reporters will tell you that KNR is Cheking Seares’ fair-haired boy, his trouble-shooter (which is not to say KNR doesn’t cause those troubles himself), the guy who does his dirty work.

Have you noticed, for instance, why discredited so-called “whistleblower” Cris Saavedra always gets banner story treatment at SunStar?  That’s because Cris Saavedra is KNR’s patron, and Cheking… well, you get the picture.

“In God’s time…” we are often told, when we wait too long for something that doesn’t seem coming.  When will the God of SunStar and the CCPC finally end this waiting?

Media always pester government offices for action on complaints.  Unless SunStar acts on this, what moral authority does it have to expect others to act?

May I suggest that this case be put on a pedestal at the Media Gallery of the Museo Sugbo, as the oldest open complaint against a media member.

Inside info; more than 10,500 fans on Facebook

 

onion-skinned readers and fans have been busy.

We’re now more than 10,500-strong on Facebook.  It’s hard to imagine we’ve only been on Facebook for a little over two weeks.

This blog, on the other hand, has been getting record hits for two weeks.

The best part is that we’ve been getting inside info on Cebu media from our active blog readers and fans.

kinsay kurap, onion-skinned’s ace informant who’s gotten newsrooms abuzz with speculation, and editorial offices with paranoia, regarding his true identity, says:

Seares launched his video that maligned the Capitol during the week when he inaugurated his Museo sa Sugbo project. This project which enshrined him at the provincial museum was made possible because he tried to gain the good graces of the governor. In the Batman movie, this is a scheme only the Joker could hatch. A coffee shop kibitzer disagreed saying he seems more like Two Face.
Huh? He is a Two-faced Joker?

That “coffee shop kibitzer” bit was a nice touch, kinsay kurap.  That’s Cheking Seares’ favorite conceit when he spreads rumors in his columns and doesn’t want to be held accountable.

Jo Siao, who seems like averse to hao siao of any kind, asks:

Was it true that when Cheking and his family went to Argao to pay his last respects for the late Cerge Remonde, they were brazen enough to ride an aircon van of a national candidate? A television team, I heard, took a footage of the van that was painted with the face and name of the candidate.

and volunteers:

Cheking has always somebody who will do the dirty job for him. Aside from KNR, there is also this Superbalita sports editor exposed elsewhere in onion-skinned. They’re Cheking’s SOBs and he will only give them up when they go against his wishes.

I wonder how KNR (Karlon Rama) feels, knowing he’s not the only one.

Another reader, Poor Reporter, seems to wonder why ngo hiong and puso at the Capitol are getting Cheking Seares and the CCPC all obsessed, while they seem to approve of certain business writers’ extravagant lifestyles at the expense of their sources’ wallets:

I so agree with this post and have been a witness at how these biz reporters can easily pull out a “day-time heist” on their sources. Despite these practices of business reporters, they continue to get the perks while Capitol reporters, who used to have a free Maria Lina’s packed lunch, now have to content themselves with ngohiong, lechon manok, and puso and then continue to be branded as corrupt. Can desserts be added in the free lunch guv?

I’ll give you a hint, Poor Reporter:  Because talking about business reporters doesn’t serve Cheking Seares’ political agenda, while hitting the Capitol will.

Cheking Seares admits it; says video was “clinical”

 

A full two weeks after the showing of that ill-conceived, ill-timed, and certainly ill-motivated video on media corruption, which had the Cebu Federation of Beat Journalists (CFJ) in an immediate uproar over generalized and slanted accusations of corruption among Cebu reporters, Cheking Seares has finally issued a statement.

He said:  “It (the video) was a clinical discussion of corruption as a subject of interest to Cebu’s practicing and future journalists.”

So there you are.  Clinical.  So that should explain:

(1)   why, as media insiders have complained here on onion-skinned (please see previous blogs and posts), footage and interviews were SURGICALLY CUT — spliced — to give a slanted view of alleged corruption in media.  Resource persons whose statements came out in that video have even complained that their statements were cut and taken out of the context in which they were given.

(2)  why, as reporters and the CFBJ have complained, the video was SANITIZED, so as not to include allegations of corruption among editors, opinion writers, commentators and Cheking Seares’ cronies.

(3)  why, as reporters and the CFBJ have complained, some footage appeared to have been DOCTORED.

(4)  why Cheking Seares and his cronies treat all media workers, except themselves, like a DISEASE.

(5)  why reporters feel the video was like a giant THERMOMETER stuck up their behinds.

Clinical.  Cheking Seares is known to choose his words carefully, and has been known to devote columns criticizing those who don’t.

onion-skinned believes that — this time, at least — Cheking Seares chose his words well.  Clinically, in fact.